FDX round-trip with Final Draft 12
Open in Arqo. Export back. Locked scene numbers, A-pages, dual dialogue, revision marks, preserved.
3 min readtopic 03 · Industry format
Final Draft is still where many production assistants live. We round-trip with Final Draft 12 verified by golden tests in CI.
What survives the round-trip
- Locked scene numbers
- A-page numbering
- Dual dialogue
- Eight WGA revision colours
- Asterisks where they belong
Importing
Drag the .fdx onto your Desk, or press Import script there. It arrives as a new script.
Exporting
In the editor, press Export and choose Final Draft. On the Mac, File › Export › Final Draft. Open in FD12: no format drift.
SmartType / Tags
Verified. All six SmartType vocabularies (characters, locations, scene intros, time-of-day, extensions, transitions) plus cross-project recall. Tags import from FDX, edit via the selection menu, and export to FD12 / MMS breakdown sheets.